The Bond that Shatters Despair - il legame penetra le disperazione
by FoxOnPie
Summary: Homura thought she knew everything that would happen after turning back time so many much. However, two new things just happened: she's landed in an entirely new universe, and Madoka came with her. Now, in order to go home, they must fight the creatures known as Daemonia, in addition to more familiar ones, with only the Elemental Tarots and one other for help. But is that enough?
1. My Time with Homura-chan can Start!

**Fox: You've seen me write for **_**Fairy Tail**_**, you've seen me write for **_**Umineko: When They Cry**_**, you've even seen me write for **_**K-On!**_ **Now, the great and powerful FoxOnPie is crossing over into magical girl territory with a crossover between **_**Madoka Magica **_**and **_**Day Break Illusion**_**! Now scroll down and read it, already! **

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**The following is a non-profit fanfic. Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Day Break Illusion are both owned by MBS, Shaft, Aniplex of America, Gen Urobuchi, Tokyo MX, AIC, and Michiko Itō. Please support the official release. **

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Many times in life, you'll find that things just don't go your way. Even if you spend hours studying for a test, you may still wind up with a bad grade. Even if you work in a company for years and years, you may still wind up getting fired. Even if you wait in line for a presentation at a comic convention for over an hour, you may still wind up not being able to get in. And with the most powerful Witch having Homura Akemi wrapped up in her dark tentacles, she was once again finding that things weren't going her way.

"I will acknowledge the valiant effort you've put up so far," the Witch said. "I'll even acknowledge the strength of those Elemental Tarot users. But HomuHomu, my dark magic cannot be defeated. All I need is a few seconds, and I'll have completely destroyed you!"

"..." was Homura's silent response as her face contorted with anxiety. She had just stopped time, so her sand timer had to recharge before she could stop time again, though the way she was being constricted made it impossible for her to attack. However, she had far from given up, evidenced by the fierce glare she sent towards the Witch.

"What's that look? You intend to continue? No matter how hard you try, there's a limit to what humans can do. Even attempting to fight despair is useless! Useless, useless, useless, useless, useless, useless, useless, useless, useless, useless!

"Can a monkey surpass a human, HomuHomu?! To me…" The Witch lifted Homura into the air and tightened her tentacles, "you are nothing more than a monkey!"

"You're wrong!" Madoka shouted, finally regaining enough strength to fire arrows at the tentacles, destroying them instantly and allowing Homura to get back onto the ground. "As long as there's faith, nothing is impossible! We'll prove it to you!"

"No, you won't! You will die by my hands!" The Witch jumped at Madoka to end her, but before Madoka, or even Homura could do something, the Witch was blasted in the face by a ball of white fire launched by the third magical girl there.

"GUAAAAAAA!" She screamed as she fell to the ground in pain. "Akari… Taiyo!"

"Now, Homura-san!" Akari shouted. Homura silently nodded as she jumped in the air and pointed her hands towards the Witch and summoned a steamroller. Simultaneously, Akari fired a pillar of flames that wrapped around the vehicle, setting it ablaze as Homura dropped it.

"Burning Road Roller!" Homura shouted as she smashed it against the Witch and induced an explosion. Homura jumped back towards Madoka and Akari after the attack, but she knew better than to believe that it was over, and she was right, as the Witch jumped out of the explosion relatively unharmed.

"You… filthy… RATS!" The Witch shouted as she fired a blast of annihilation at the three girls. Fortunately, her madness from the damage decreased her accuracy, allowing Madoka, Homura, and Akari to dodge, making the blast hit the wall behind them and create a giant hole. "I will kill you all! One! By! One!"

"As if we'll allow that!" Akari shouted, rushing towards the Witch and stabbing her foot with her flaming sword, causing her to release a ghastly scream. The Witch tried to hit Akari with enough force to knock her away, but she maintained her ground.

"Homura-chan, now! While Akari-chan's distracting her!" Madoka shouted.

"Right… let's do this!" Homura responded. Madoka and Homura's bodies were wrapped in a white and black aura, respectively, as they each activated their Ultimate forms.

"These hands of ours are burning red!" Madoka shouted.

"Their loud roar tells us to grasp happiness!" Homura shouted.

"Together, we will take control of our cruel fates!" They shouted together as they joined hands. "Seki! Ha! Love Love Tenkyoken!" A brilliant white beam was fired from their bodies towards Akari and the Witch. At the same time, Akari was smacked away by the Witch who, right then, finally noticed the attack coming at her.

_Finally…_ Madoka thought. _With this, our fight will finally be over. And at the same time… my life with Homura-chan can start!_

TO BE BEGUN

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**Fox: In case you're lost, this is an in media res prologue; the story will truly start next chapter. Also, the Witch they're fighting hasn't been named to avoid spoilers, but I will tell you this; she isn't an original character. See ya! **

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**Fox: You should leave a review after reading; everybody's doing it, man!**

**Kyubey: You should also form a contract with me! :)**


	2. This is an Odd Development

**The following is a non-profit fanfic. Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Day Break Illusion are both owned by MBS, Shaft, Aniplex of America, Gen Urobuchi, Tokyo MX, AIC, and Michiko Itō. Please support the official release. **

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Repetition: the act of repeating; repeated action, performance, production, or presentation.

Despair: loss of hope; hopelessness.

Clearly, these two words aren't related to one another, and it would be rather strange of someone to connect them. But, then again, Homura Akemi wasn't the most normal of people in the world.

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It all happened as it usually did. Homura did everything she could think of to stop Madoka from forming a contract with Kyubey: spouting cryptic messages, shooting the devilish alien, even begging her to value herself as she sobbed and let her true feelings spill out. However, as it usually did, because Homura wasn't strong enough to stop Walpurgisnacht, Madoka formed a contract, defeated the Witch, and exhausted all of her magic at once. It was always a painful sight for Homura, but what made it especially painful this time was that Madoka hadn't immediately turned into a Witch. This had happened once before, and not wanting a repeat of what she ended up doing then, Homura opted to turn back time before she transformed.

_I'm sorry, Madoka…_ Homura thought to herself, turning from her friend who was crying out in pain. _If I stay here, with you like this, I know you'll ask me to do _that _again. If it came from _you_, I would never object… but I can't bear the thought of doing that a second time. I'm sorry that I have to leave while you're suffering like this… please, somehow, forgive me in the next timeline…_ She silently placed a hand on her sand timer and activated the Time Reversal. The sand in the upper part started vanish; once it was all gone, Homura would return to the day she met Madoka... to the most important day of her life.

"...ra-chan…"

_?!_ That was a voice Homura knew, yet she shouldn't be hearing right then.

"...n't leave… mura-chan…" She heard familiar footsteps, all of which shouldn't be made right then.

"Don't leave me, Homura-chan…!" A familiar embrace that hadn't been felt in a long time; if it wasn't so confusing, she could've enjoyed it more. "I… I don't know what you're doing, but don't leave me…!" Regardless of whether or not she believed it, this was Homura's current reality: Madoka Kaname, who should've already turned into a Witch, still maintained her humanity, and was now hugging Homura from behind as she begged her not to go, despite not even knowing what she planned to do.

"...Madoka… I…" Even after dozens upon dozens of resets, Homura had never encountered this event. Not only that, but with the attitude and personality Homura portrayed from the fourth timeline onwards, she and Madoka hadn't been this close for awhile; for such a thing like this to happen… Homura couldn't hold back her tears. "I…"

GACHI

The sand was completely gone. Time would now be reset. Time _should _be reset. All of this is what Homura was thinking as a blinding light encompassed her and Madoka.

"...Huh?" Kyubey uttered in the distance, finding the light more puzzling than the display of emotion he just witnessed.

* * *

Homura awoke with an unusual headache. She would deal with that later. Today was, once again, her first day of school, so she had to get dressed and head out of the hospital.

"...Where… is this…?" At least, that was the plan. When Homura awoke, she found herself not in her room at the hospital, but somewhere entirely different. The sky was a pitch black, void of even a single star, and all around her were rocks of various size, shape, and color.

"This isn't the hospital… it looks like… it looks like a Witch's Labyrinth. But how could I be…?!" Homura started to stand up when she felt an unusual amount of weight slide off of her back. She turned to see what it was and immediately panicked upon the realization. "MADOKA!" With incredible speed, Homura grabbed an unconscious Madoka before she fell to the ground.

_Why… Why is Madoka here? She isn't supposed to be… wait… wait a minute… _Homura's confusion in regards to why Madoka was there soon turned to confusion in regards to why Madoka was alive, as she should've already turned into a Witch. Not sure what to think of any of this, Homura quickly surveyed the ground for what she was looking for. After a few seconds, she found it.

Madoka's Soul Gem.

Completely void of darkness. Somehow, the transformation was nullified, and Madoka was no longer going to become a Witch. Once again, Homura couldn't hold back her tears.

"Thank God… Thank God…" she cried as she subconsciously embraced the girl. "Madoka…"

"GURAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"?!" Homura was incredibly startled by this loud, vicious roar. Though she wasn't as startled by that as she was to see the creature that jumped in front of her. It looked like a giant red rabbit, but it had no eyes, its mouth was diagonal and full of sharp canines, and its ears looked like giant swords.

"So this really _is _a Witch's Labyrinth," Homura said, regaining her stoic composure as she carefully put Madoka on the ground and her Soul Gem in her pocket. "I'm not sure why I'm in here, but you picked the wrong magical girl to attack." Quickly, Homura reached into her hammerspace to pull out a Desert Eagle and unload all of its bullets on the Witch… only to find that her pistol wasn't in her hand. Upon closer inspection, much closer than what was done before, both Homura and Madoka were back in their Mitakihara Junior High uniforms, meaning that they had both exhausted too much strength to maintain their magical girl forms. That was not a good thing, especially when the demonic rabbit fired some sort of carrot-shaped laser that sent Homura flying into some rocks.

"GAH…!" The crash caused a rock to fall on Homura's leg, leaving her unable to move. That was bad already, but what made it worse was that she then saw the monster walking towards Madoka. "NO!" Homura struggled to move, but she couldn't make the rock budge at all.

_Dammit… is it really going to end like this…? ...No…_ Homura grabbed a pointed rock with her right hand and lifted it above her trapped leg. As a magical girl, her body technically didn't feel pain, so, in theory, she could cut off her leg and escape. _Madoka didn't turn into a Witch… this is what I've wanted for so long… like _hell _I'll just let it escape me! _Filled with absolute conviction, Homura swung her arm downward to lob off her leg with a rock, but before it connected, she stopped when she saw the rabbit fall over when it got hit in the head by what appeared to be an arrow of ice.

"?!"

"Whatcha doin' down there, girl, tryin' ta stab yaself 'n' all?" A thick Kansai accent called out. Homura then saw four girls about her age fly over into the air above her. One of them had long, orange hair with a small side ponytail in a crescent shape that also covered one of her red eyes and looked like fire, wore white gloves, a black bow with an orange line in the middle, a pink and white sailor uniform with a black tie, a white bow around the waist and orange and white striped stockings with black shoes, and held an orange sword in her hands.

The second girl had long, blue hair done in two pigtails and a braid and blue eyes, spikes of ice in her hair and on the back of her hands, wore a white shirt with a thin black bow in the chest area and black star on the right, a red arm band with black strips and a black star, black short shorts with a red belt and silver buckle, long black stockings with a small white star close to the top, and silver lace up boots with a white star on the heel, and had what appeared to be a crossbow made of ice on her left arm.

The third girl had long, green hair that seemed to be made of strips, yellow eyes, pointed dog ears, a red, moon-like mark on each hand, and long, red claws, and wore white stockings, brown shoes, and a green dress and beret, both of which had a crescent moon accessory(on her chest for the dress, and on the left side for the beret).

The fourth girl had long, blonde, wavy hair, light blue eyes, wore a black headband lined with white ruffles, a strapless navy-blue dress with a few white stripes and white ruffles at the bottom, a yellow ribbon, and brown boots with buckles. She also had a halo floating above her head and a pair of wings, one red and one blue, sticking out of both her head and back.

"Ginka, Luna-chan, go help those two girls; leave the Daemonia to Seira and me!" The orange-haired girl shouted. The blonde and green-haired girl, whom Homura concluded to be "Ginka" and "Luna", respectively, flew down to the ground. Ginka made a large number of gold coins appear in the air around Madoka that turned into what appeared to be shields while Luna hacked away the rock on Homura's leg with her claws and then covered it in a green light that seemed to be healing it.

_What… what's going on…_ Homura thought as her consciousness started to fade. _Are these girls magical girls…? And they called that thing a… "Daemonia"? Why is this… happening…? Why… why is this…_ That was the last thing Homura thought before she passed out.

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In a mysterious area shrouded in darkness, ten mysterious figures sat at a round table, each one sitting in a chair that had a Roman numeral on the back; there was an empty chair that had "XI" on the back, indicating the lack of an eleventh person. In the center of the table sat a crystal ball that displayed the scene with Homura and the four girls.

"_This _is an odd development," said VI.

"Indeed," said VIII. "For two girls to randomly fall into the Astralux like that… that has never happened before…"

"Idiot; they ain't 'normal' girls!" yelled IV. "Didn't you hear the hot ravenhead? She's a magical girl, and her cute, pink friend's probably one, too!"

"Impossible!" yelled II. "Neither of them possess Elemental Tarots, so it's impossible for them to be magical girls! It's illogical!"

"What exactly is 'logical' about our lives, anyway?" asked III.

"ENOUGH!" boomed I, silencing everyone. "I agree with Thalamus; it may be weak, but those two girls are definitely exuding magic. Who they are and where they came from are two things we still don't know… but finding out should be fun, shouldn't it? Fufufufu. Yes. For the first time in two years, things are about to become... interesting."

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**Fox: You should leave a review after reading; everybody's doing it, man!**

**Kyubey: You should also form a contract with me! :)**


	3. Let's All Work Together, Now!

**Fox: Did you know that **_**Madoka Magica **_**is up for an Oscar nomination? Hot beef that's awesome!**

**Pie: Can I **_**please **_**get a new co-author?**

**Fox: Shut up. Also, get ready for a crapload of infodumping. **

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**The following is a non-profit fanfic. Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Day Break Illusion are both owned by MBS, Shaft, Aniplex of America, Gen Urobuchi, Tokyo MX, AIC, and Michiko Itō. Please support the official release. **

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"...Unfamiliar ceiling." That was the first thing Homura said when she awoke. The girl found herself still dressed in her school uniform, but rather than that strange place from before, she was now in the bed of what appeared to be a regular room; looking out the window, she saw that it was nighttime. She gave up on figuring out where she was as soon as she heard an incredibly beautiful voice.

"Homura-chan, you're finally awake!" Madoka said as she entered the room and walked over to her bed.

"Madoka… it's… good to see you." Homura had had too many emotional outbursts than she would've wanted in the last few hours, so she was doing her best to remain stoic.

"Yeah, it's a miracle that we can talk at all. After I defeated Walpurgisnacht, I was in so much pain… I could've sworn I was turning into a Witch, but then… I woke up, and I was still myself…"

"Yes… It…" Homura unconsciously grabbed Madoka's hand; she was a bit surprised by it, but she didn't do anything, "It really _is_ a miracle. ...But… how _did _it happen, though?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe it had something to do with our unconventional entrance into the Astralux."

"? 'Astralux'? Is that what that place was called?"

"Oh! That's right! Homura-chan, you've been unconscious this whole time, so you don't know anything. We should get you to Etia-san and Ariel-san's office so you can get caught up."

"Who are-"

"You'll see!" Madoka then pulled Homura out of the bed and moved her into the hall.

"M-Madoka! I can walk on my own!"

"Oh! Sorry!" Madoka stopped moving.

"Thank you."

"...Shouldn't you let go of my hand, then?"

"! R-Right…" Homura begrudgingly let go of Madoka's hand, and the two kept walking, with the pink-haired girl leading the way.

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Eventually, Madoka and Homura arrived at an office door, Madoka opening it without knocking.

"Etia-san, Ariel-san, Homura-chan woke up!" Madoka said as she and Homura walked in. In the room were two women. One of the women sat on one of the two sofas and was blue-eyed, had her blue hair done in very large twintails that seemed to be as big as herself, and wore white gloves and a dress with a black and white color scheme. The other woman, standing by a wall with red eyes, was tan, wore glasses, had long, light-pink hair, and wore a palette swap of the the other woman's outfit; she also seemed to have a perpetual frown.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Homura-san," the blue-haired woman said. "Please, have a seat." Homura was a little reluctant to do so, since she still had little to no idea what was going on, but Madoka seemed to have an understanding of the situation, so she followed her friend's lead and sat down.

"I'll start with introductions. My name is Etia Visconti, and my friend in the corner is Ariel Valtiel Westcott. We are, respectively, the head and deputy head of the Nagataki branch of Sephiro Fiore."

"'Sephiro Fiore'?" Homura repeated. "What's that?"

"It is a global organization that employs magical girls with the goal of protecting humanity," Ariel said. "We do things rather differently here in comparison to your world."

"?!"

"Yes. Your suspicions are correct, Homura Akemi. This is not your's and Madoka Kaname's world; it is an entirely different world, a parallel universe, if you will."

_A parallel… universe?_ Homura thought as she hung her head down. _Is something like that even possible? How could Madoka and I have been… wait. Why do they know our names and that we're magical girls? I've apparently been unconscious this whole time, so… !_ Homura looked up to see Madoka bearing a rather nervous expression.

"...I'm sorry, Homura-chan!" Madoka apologized. "Magical girls, Kyubey, Soul Gems, Witches… I told them about all of that! It was the only way that they would've let us stay here!"

"...Huh?" Madoka then went into more detail. After the four girls defeated the monster, which was apparently called a "Daemonia", they took Madoka and Homura out of the Astralux and into this building; it was then that Madoka woke up. The blue-haired girl, who was named "Seira", thought that they might be free-willed Daemonia and should be killed on the spot, but the orange-haired girl, who was named "Akari", argued against it. "Seira" then asked Madoka to prove she wasn't a Daemonia, so she activated her magical girl powers and proceeded to explain everything else for insurance.

"You're not mad that I did that, are you?" Homura shook her head. "That's a relief."

"If you're done catching her up on _that_," Ariel interjected, "we should explain the exact workings of our magic to Homura, as she's still in the dark on it. Etia, you seem to enjoy doing this, so you do it."

"I wouldn't say that I _like _it, but alright," Etia said. "Homura-san, are you familiar with the Tree of Life?"

"Yes," Homura said. "It is a mythological concept that represents the idea that all people are connected."

"Yes, but in our world, it's not exactly a myth. Within each of our souls is our own personal Tree of Life that represents our own fates, and it is through this that our world exists as it does."

"?"

"In a process similar to how the magical girls of your world become Witches, when a person in this world is filled with an overwhelming amount of despair, the Tree of Life within their soul becomes corrupted and turns into a violent monster with only destruction in mind; this monster is known as a Daemonia.

"At some point in the past, 22 people were the first ones to become engulfed in this degree of despair, thus making them the founding Daemonia. At the same time, though, magic emerged within the Trees of Life of 22 girls at the age of 12, allowing them to fight the Daemonia. The girls' power and the Daemonia's power took the form of Tarot cards, so they were called the Elemental Tarots and Diablos Tarots, respectively, and it is only through the power of the Elemental Tarots that Daemonia can be defeated."

"So, for probably centuries, you've all been fighting those 22 Daemonia?"

"Not exactly. While the Elemental Tarot users all eventually die, the Daemonia are immortal unless they're killed by us. Knowing this, the original 22 fled to an unknown corner of the Astralux, the world Daemonia live in once they're born, and have been letting their offspring do the dirty work."

"'Offspring'?"

"The Daemonia work like viruses; if you don't take care of them, they'll infect whoever they touch. While overwhelming despair does indeed create Daemonia, a catalyst is needed for this to happen. In this case, the catalyst is a Daemonia leaving a part of itself inside of a human, causing them to transform once they hit rock bottom. It's nearly impossible to tell if someone is infected, so the Daemonia are nearly impossible to completely destroy."

"What do you mean by 'nearly'?"

"What the original 22 didn't realize originally was that their offspring have the potential to evolve into beings of free will that can overpower them. Two years ago, a free-willed Daemonia by the name of Cerebrum somehow forced the Daemonia counterpart to Temperance into battle, leading to its ultimate destruction. This isn't a permanent demise, as it will regenerate once Ginka-san dies and someone new inherits her card, but this means that it will be almost for a century that the Daemonia's strength is cut down by 1/22.

"And that… is all I need to explain to get you up to speed. Any questions?"

"..."

"Homura-chan?" Madoka asked.

"...Give me a moment…" _This world… they say that it's a different one, but there are so many similarities to our own. Girls who gain magic at adolescence, monsters born from negative emotion that spawn more monsters… _

_Yeah, it's really weird, _Madoka said to her, telepathically. _Almost as weird as how we got here._

"How _did_ we get here?" Homura asked, accidentally aloud.

"That's what _we _want to know," Ariel said. "We asked Madoka about it, but her memory seems to be a bit spotty."

"?"

"If you could, Homura-san, please tell us everything you remember," Etia said.

"...Madoka had just destroyed Walpurgisnacht, the strongest of all the Witches. At the same time, she had exhausted all of magic… and started to become a Witch." Homura hung her head down to hide her saddened face. "I… I couldn't bear to see that happen, so I tried to use my magic… to start over from the beginning…"

"'Start over'?" Madoka asked, confused. "What do you mean? I thought your magic could only stop time and hide things behind that shield thing."

"There's actually _another_ ability that I have access to…" Homura raised her head, still conveying a sad expression, but she felt that this part would be better said if she was looking at them. "I also have the ability… to turn back time." Everyone in the room had a look of shock on their face. Homura then activated her magical girl powers and showed her sand timer to those watching. "When the flow of sand stops, time stands still. And when the top part becomes completely empty, time can be turned back a month."

"Why just a month?"

"I… I don't know…" That, of course, was a lie, as Homura did indeed know. She knew very well that it was a month because her wish was to be able to redo her meeting with Madoka as someone who can protect her. She also knew that if she said this, she'd have to tell Madoka the truth about everything, and that wasn't something she wanted to do.

"Also, what do you mean by 'top part', Homura-chan?"

"? What do you mean, what do I mean? There are two orbs on here, and when there's so sand in the upper orb… !" Homura, looking at her sand timer, understood what Madoka was talking about: there was no upper orb. Sand was still flowing into the lower orb, but now it looked like it was coming from absolutely nowhere. "How…"

"Perhaps this means that your ability to travel back in time… has been locked," Ariel said. "Maybe when you ended up here, you lost access to that ability on account of it being designed to bring you back to a specific point in _your _world, not _our _world."

"!" It was here that Homura started feeling tired, so she deactivated her magic.

"Of course, that still raises the question of how you both ended up here."

"I think I have an answer," Etia said. "Homura-san, Madoka-san, are either of you familiar with the Pauli exclusion principle?" The girls both shook their heads. "In simplest terms, it states that no two solid objects can occupy the same space at the same time. Madoka-san, did you, by any chance, grab on to Homura-san when she activated her magic to go back in time?" Madoka was motionless for a moment, but then nodded with a slight blush as she remembered her hugging Homura. "When you did, you got caught in the field of Homura-san's magic, causing the two of you to be affected; it is here that the exclusion principle comes into play.

"Homura-san's ability to turn back time is probably only meant to carry her and her alone through the time stream, so when Madoka-san became enwrapped in that magical field, Homura-san became unable to send her back in time, as it would then involve the two of you being sent back in time. Of course, magic still defies science, so something still happened, and that something threw the two of you off course while moving through the timestream, causing you to end up in this dimension. At least, that's what _I _think."

"..." Homura couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was something like this actually possible? The reason that they ended up in this world was because of Madoka's hug? But even with that, there was still one question that needed to be answered.

"But then… what's the reason I didn't turn into a Witch?" Madoka asked before Homura could.

"That… I don't have an answer to," Etia admitted. "I do have a theory, though."

"?"

"When the two of you first arrived in this world, you were both out of magic; even when Madoka-san transformed for us, she was only able to maintain it for a little while. Perhaps the magic of _your_ world is severely weakened when it enters _our _world. ...No, that doesn't really explain the Witch thing. ...Maybe… Witches just aren't able to exist here."

"!"

_Witches… aren't able to exist here…? _Homura thought. _If that's true, then… then… then Madoka and I could just stay here! We wouldn't have to worry about fighting anyone or dying… but you don't want that, do you, Madoka?_ She suddenly asked in Madoka's head. _As much as you want to remain safe, no, even _more _than that, you want to live in a world with your friends and family, right?_

_...That's right,_ Madoka thought back.

_Always putting others ahead of yourself. It's what I've always complained about… yet I can't find it in me to argue now. _This was true, and Homura didn't know why. Perhaps it was because she didn't want to upset Madoka by arguing, perhaps she had a secret longing to be with the people who were once her friends.

"I can tell just by looking at the both of you that you each don't wish to stay here, permanently," Etia said. "In that case, then we may be able to benefit off of one another." Etia reached into her pocket, pulled out two cards, and placed them on the table in between the sofas. When Madoka and Homura looked at the cards, they saw that they were Tarot cards, the Emperor and the Empress.

"Most of the Elemental Tarots are inherited through blood, but some choose their owners," Ariel said. "We recently lost the previous users of these cards, but, for some reason, they seem to be resonating with you two."

"So… we can _use _them?" Madoka asked.

"Yes. As it stands, using your regular magic takes too much of a strain on your bodies in this world. However, if you had Elemental Tarots, you could use magic without becoming so easily exhausted. The reason that this would even be an issue is that we wish for the two of you to join us."

"?"

"If you two use these cards to fight Daemonia along with the rest of the Sephiro Fiore, then we will work on a way to get the two of you back to your world. Though, given what you've told us, it would be better if you had a way to go into a timeline where you can start over. That sounds fair, right?"

"..."

"...We'll do it," Homura said with confidence.

"Homura-chan?"

"Madoka, above all else, I want you to be happy. If what will make you happy is returning to our own world, then I'll do everything in my power to make sure it happens."

"Homura-chan…"

"Are you both in agreement? Will you fight the evils of this world while we try to send you back to yours?" Etia asked. The two girls from another world nodded in unison. "Very well, then." The Empress and Emperor glowed as they levitated off the table and flew into Madoka and Homura's chests, respectively, disappearing in a flash of light. Etia then gave the two of them a bright smile. "Welcome to Sephiro Fiore. Let's all work together, now!"

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**Fox: With that, the infodump is over! And now… this! **

* * *

**Useless Addition #1**

Madoka and Homura had exited Etia and Ariel's office and were walking through the halls. After gaining their Tarot cards, they found that their Soul Gems didn't vanish, meaning they were still bound by their contracts with Kyubey. Also, all of the other girls were sleeping, so it wouldn't be until the morning that they'd get to see them, though Madoka was already acquainted. However, there was something on Homura's mind that currently had priority over those two things, even if it wasn't as important, in comparison.

"Why are you following me, Madoka?" Homura asked, feeling the question to be a bit ironic.

"Huh?" Madoka responded.

"This is the way back to _my _room. Shouldn't you be going to _your _room?"

"Well… you see…" Madoka started blushing. "They were kind of full when we showed up, and the room you were sleeping in was the last one available, so…"

"...! We're… we're _sharing _a room?"

"That's not a problem… is it?" Homura turned away from Madoka to hide her blush.

"N-No, of course not! We're both girls; this kind of thing is natural! One of us will take the bed, and one of us will use a fu- ...there aren't any futons, are there?"

"No…" And that's how Homura started sleeping in the same bed as Madoka… though it's probably not the way she envisioned it.

* * *

**Fox: You should leave a review after reading; everybody's doing it, man!**

**Kyubey: You should also form a contract with me! :)**


	4. There Can't Be Good Will Behind It

**Fox: For those of you who won't be able to see the new **_**Madoka Magica **_**movie in theaters, it is now online for our viewing pleasure! You should all go watch it later, but in the meantime, enjoy the chapter! **

* * *

**The following is a non-profit fanfic. Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Day Break Illusion are both owned by MBS, Shaft, Aniplex of America, Gen Urobuchi, Tokyo MX, AIC, and Michiko Itō. Please support the official release. **

* * *

Morning came quicker for Madoka than she ever remembered it coming for her. Despite everything that had happened recently, she was able to sleep very soundly; perhaps it was from the optimism that everything would turn out alright, or perhaps it was due to the fact that she felt safe sleeping next to Homura. Either way, the two girls awoke calmly, took turns showering, put on their uniforms(Sephiro Fiore had yet to provide them with any casual clothing), and exited the room to get breakfast.

* * *

"So, the magical girls of this world, what are they like?" Homura asked as they walked to the dining hall.

"They're all really nice," Madoka replied. "You'll try to get along with them, right?"

"We'll see." Even if Madoka would've wanted Homura to be friends with these girls, Homura had no intention of doing so, as protecting Madoka took priority over everything else. Nonetheless, she would at least meet them to see what kind of people they were.

* * *

"Good morning, Madoka!" An orange-haired girl said as Madoka and Homura entered the dining hall.

"Good morning, Akari-chan!" Madoka said back. Homura saw that all the girls in the hall were the same four girls they saw yesterday, only the orange-haired one had shorter hair and had both eyes showing, the blue-haired one didn't have a braid or any ice on her body, the green-haired one didn't have any animal-like features and wore gloves over hands, and the blonde one didn't have any sort of wings on her body; Homura presumed that the missing features only appeared when they were in their magical girl forms.

"Let me introduce you to them, Homura-chan," Madoka said. "The girl with the orange hair is Akari Taiyo-chan, who uses the Sun."

"It's nice to meet you, Homura-san," Akari said.

"Next to her, with green hair, is Luna Tsukuyomi-chan, who uses the Moon."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Homura-san," Luna said with a bow.

"The girl across from Luna-chan who's stuffing herself with takoyaki is Ginka Shirokane-san, who uses Temperance."

"Nice meetin' ya!" Ginka said.

"And the girl next to her with blue hair is Seira Hoshikawa-san, who uses the Star."

"...Nice to meet you," Seira said a bit coldly, though Homura had no right to get upset about something like that.

"Everyone, this is my good friend, Homura Akemi, and the two of us will be in your care for awhile!"

…"_Friend", she says, _Homura thought. _To think that Madoka would actually think of me as a friend… _Putting these thoughts aside, Homura gave her trademark hairflip and said, "Nice to meet you." The four girls, obviously not expecting that, looked confused.

"...Well… why don't y'all sit down for a bit; mornin' victuals should be ready soon," Ginka said. Assuming that that meant breakfast would be ready soon, Madoka sat down at opposite sides of the table.

"Does Homura-san usually do that hairflip thing?" Akari whispered to Madoka.

"More often than you'd think…" Madoka admitted.

_Seira Hoshikawa…_ Homura thought as she stared at the blue-haired girl. _As I recall, she wanted to have Madoka and I killed on the spot yesterday._

"I know what you're thinking about," Seira said to Homura. "I'm… sorry for jumping the gun yesterday; I was such an idiot."

"As long as you're apologizing, it's… say that again."

"Say what again?"

"'I was such an idiot'."

"? I was such an idiot."

"..."

"Why did you want me to repeat that?"

"...No reason." Homura needed Seira to say "I was such an idiot" one more time to confirm what she was thinking, and she was right; this girl sounded exactly like Sayaka, for whatever reason.

"You just liked me calling myself an idiot, didn't you?"

"If you'd like to think that, go ahead." The two started shooting icy glares at one another that didn't go unnoticed by the others.

"...I think we're going to get along well."

"Me, too."

_They're hitting it off?! _The other girls thought. Just then, the door to the kitchen opened up, and through it came a busty, brown-haired maid pushing a food cart.

"I hope you're all hungry!" She said with a smile, setting all of the food down on the table. She then noticed that Madoka and Homura looked at her in a very confused manner. "That's right, neither of you met me yesterday. My name is Sayo Yasuda. I may work as a maid here, but I use the Hierophant card; I'm a magical girl, just like you!"

_I feel like all of her positivity is going to give me diabetes,_ Homura thought.

"Now please hurry up and finish eating, everyone, or you'll be late for class."

"'Class'?" Madoka and Homura parroted.

* * *

It was then that Madoka and Homura started to learn some important differences between magical girls in their worlds and magical girls in this world. Madoka and Homura assumed that Sephiro Fiore was a secret organization that normal people didn't know about, but only what it actually did was secret; to the outside world, Sephiro Fiore was an elite private school that gave an accelerated education to kids 12 and up. Even though this was merely a front, the girls still had to learn things, so Madoka and Homura's first day in the new reality was spent taking math, English, and Japanese literature with Etia, history and P.E. with Ariel, music from Priscilla Twilight, a woman with a brown ponytail who possessed the Fool Tarot, and science from Meltina Melvis, a woman with light-purple twintails who possessed the Magician.

But the differences didn't stop with a steady education. After school was over, Madoka and Homura were given a tour of the building and found that it had a weight room, a game room, a theater, and an outdoor bath. While the two of them enjoyed seeing these luxuries, Madoka more than Homura, the two of them couldn't help but feel a little annoyed at how magical girls in this world got so many perks in comparison to magical girls in their world.

* * *

Later that day, all of the girls went to the assembly hall for a meeting with Etia and Ariel.

"As you all know, we have two new additions to our branch, Madoka Kaname-san and Homura Akemi-san," Etia said. "As such, we will be making some changes to the teams. Priscilla-san, Meltina-san, and Sayo-san will stay together, Madoka-san and Homura-san will be a team, and they'll be joined by Akari-san."

"? We're back to being a three-man team?" Seira asked.

"Why does _Akari-san_ have to go with them?" Luna asked.

"Akari-san was the newest girl before Madoka-san and Homura-san, so if they works with her, it'll probably become easier for them to adjust to fighting here." Just then, an alarm sounded off. "Speak of the devil."

"Akari, Madoka, Homura, head down to the docking bay and prepare for battle," Ariel said, the three girls nodding. Madoka and Homura immediately ran out, but Akari lingered for a bit.

"I'll be alright, Luna-chan," Akari said to her with a smile. Luna smiled back, and Akari left the room.

* * *

The docking bay was a large room filled with a wide variety of gears and lightbulbs. Madoka, Homura, and Akari stood on a circular platform as they were each surrounded by a cage that lifted them into the air.

"Coordinates locked. Astralux is normal." This voice came from the top of a pillar and belonged to Itsuki Tendo. She was one of three triplets, her sisters Mutsumi and Nanase, all shared the Tarot card Wheel of Fortune and used it to operate the computer system that sent magical girls into the Astralux.

"Convertillento posidio," Mutsumi Tendo said. When she did, a large hole opened up in the platform that contained an orange, swirling vortex.

"Tenebrae mode!" Nanase Tendo said. "Wheel of Fortune, start!" The three sisters simultaneously pressed a key on each of their computers, causing the cages to open up and drop them into the vortex, Madoka screaming all the while.

"Good luck, onee-tans!" The three girls said.

* * *

"Madoka, you can stop screaming now," Homura said.

"Oh! Okay," Madoka said, feeling a bit embarrassed. "So, we're back in the Astralux?" Madoka looked around and saw the same pitch black star, but the area they were in now resembled a dead forest.

"Yes," Akari said, already having her magic activated. "The Daemonia should be showing up soon. By the way, I like your new outfits."

"What?" Madoka and Homura asked. They turned to each other and had their jaws simultaneously drop, as them getting Elemental Tarots apparently changed their magical girl outfits. Homura now wore a black tanktop, black pants with purple diamonds going across vertically, purple diamond knee guards, yellow shoes, and purple suspenders that hung at her hips, her Soul Gem now being in the middle of them. Madoka's outfit was the same, only her tanktop was bubblegum pink, her pants and suspenders blue with an alternating pattern of gold hearts and peace signs, and her Soul Gem still sat between the top of her chest and the bottom of her neck.

"This is… odd," Homura said.

"Yeah…" Madoka said. "It's not that they look bad… they're just weird things to wear…"

"You can save that for later, you two!" Akari said. "The Daemonia's here!" Out from the forest jumped a giant tree with six legs, two arms, two mouths that sat atop one another, and a big, red eye. It let out a bloodcurdling scream as the image of a city appeared on the ground.

"Is that the outside world?!" Madoka asked.

"Yeah. The Daemonia are able to attack people like this, and it's our job to protect them!" Akari flew up into the air and launched a fireball from her sword, knocking the Daemonia back before it could attack the image. "What's wrong?! Fly up here and help!"

"We… can't fly."

"...Seriously?"

"Seriously," Homura said.

"You have near immortal bodies, can control time, fire magical arrows, but you can't _fly_? I don't believe-" Akari was cut off by the tree Daemonia smacking her into the ground.

"Akari-chan!" Madoka shouted. She materialized her bow and fired a pink arrow at Akari. After it hit her, it vanished, and all of Akari's damage vanished.

"I didn't know you could heal, Madoka," Homura said.

"Me, neither, but at the same time, I sort of did. It's like, even though I've never fought like this before, my body already knows what it can do in this world."

"GRAAAAAAAA!" The tree Daemonia shouted as it threw a punch at Homura while her attention was on Madoka, or at least thought it was. Homura did a backflip to dodge the punch, jumped off of its arm into the air, and blasted it in the face with an RPG-7.

"Wow…" Akari said, getting up. "Can all the magical girls in your world move like that?"

"No," Homura said, tilting her head back. "Just me."

"Well it's not over yet." Akari pointed to the tree Daemonia as the dust cleared. It had fallen to the ground, its upper half was destroyed, and in its place was a large orb with a black Tarot card floating in the middle. "When Daemonia take enough damage, their core is exposed. We have to destroy the Diablos Tarot card inside that orb to finish it for good!" Akari ran forward, jumped into the air, covered her sword in flames, and stabbed through the orb to the card.

"! Madoka, Homura-san, come over and each of you put a hand on my back!" The two girls didn't know what that was about, but they listened to what Akari said.

_**Noteworthy… **_A mysterious voice said.

"?! Who is that?!" Madoka asked.

"The Daemonia!" Akari shouted. "I can hear the voices of Daemonia, and anyone who touches me can hear them, as well! Now, Daemonia, you said that you came here to specifically Madoka and Homura-san, but why?!"

_**My masters' orders… They wanted to see the strengths of the foreign entities, so I was sent to gauge their strength… Even if I die, they will surely be impressed…**_

"_Foreign entities?" _Homura thought. _! Then that means… there are Daemonia that know who Madoka and I are?! _"Who are your masters?! Tell me!"

_**...Daemonic… Brain… Trust…**_ The Daemonia's left arm regenerated, and it used it to pull Akari's sword through the orb and destroy the Diablos Tarot, destroying the Daemonia in an instant.

"We won… but this is… unsettling," Akari said.

"'Daemonic Brain Trust'..." Madoka said. "Daemonia that know who Homura-chan and I are...? How, though?"

"I don't know, but there can't be good will behind it," Homura said.

* * *

**Useless Addition #2**

It all seemed like a dream. For Madoka to have avoided becoming a Witch by being sent to a world where Witches simply can't exist seemed almost too good for Homura to believe. What was even more unbelievable, though, was that they'd be sleeping in the same bed. In the first three timelines, before Homura started acting stoic, Madoka sometimes invited her to sleep over at her house, but they never slept _this _close to one another.

_Come on, Homura, relax! _Homura thought to herself. _What's the big deal about this, anyway? Nothing, that's what! We're just two girls sleepingin the same bed… wearing basically nothing…_ This was true; the nightwear that was provided for them was a light purple nightgown for Homura and a yellow blouse and panties for Madoka. _Just relax… relax…_ A sleeping Madoka put an arm around Homura. _RELAX… RELAX…_

"...Mmm… Homura-chan…" Madoka said in her sleep.

_RELAXRELAXRELAX… RELAXRELAXRELAX…_

"Right there… harder…"

_RELAX! RELAX! RELAX!_

"Harder… hard- AHN! That hurt! But… it hurt good…" That was all Homura could take; she fainted right then and there. "You really _do _give great backrubs, Homura-chan…"

* * *

**Fox: You should leave a review after reading; everybody's doing it, man!**

**Kyubey: You should also form a contract with me! :)**


	5. Aren't We Friends, Though?

**The following is a non-profit fanfic. Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Day Break Illusion are both owned by MBS, Shaft, Aniplex of America, Gen Urobuchi, Tokyo MX, AIC, and Michiko Itō. Please support the official release. **

* * *

"Do you _really _not know anything?" Etia asked the other being in her office. "Or are you simply withholding information until such an act becomes unnecessary?"

"When have I ever done that?" The other being asked. This wasn't a human that Etia was talking to, but an old crow with golden bangles around its legs named Laplace.

"It's rather obvious that you, and by extension Leguzario, knew more during the incident with Cerebrum than you lead on."

_This again? _"As I've mentioned before, Leguzario had been monitoring Cerebrum for a while, but it wasn't until you first started fighting him that we considered him a serious threat. _That's _why information was withheld, and since Leguzario sponsors Sephiro Fiore, you shouldn't be questioning their methods."

"..."

"But back to the matter at hand, I know nothing of this 'Daemonic Brain Trust'. I'm not saying that because I have to; I truly know nothing." Laplace then turned and flew out the window.

You _might not know anything, but the higher-ups surely do. Always having hidden agendas, only telling us what we "need to know"... I hate them. They might not care about the girls risking their lives every day, but I do, and I _will _protect them!_

* * *

"We really need to talk about Homura," Seira said to her friends. It had been about a month since Madoka and Homura came into their world by accident. Now, they were having a meeting in the dining hall to discuss their apparent complaints about Homura.

"What do you mean, Seira?" Akari asked.

"I _mean _we need to talk about her attitude! She's completely uncooperative in battle!"

"That's not true! Homura-san goes along with our plans!"

"Only when they're involvin' Madoka," Ginka pointed out. "When they ain't, she be actin' like we ain't here and dudden listen at all."

"...Well…"

"Are you honestly saying that you like working with her, Akari?" Seira asked. "You're on the same team as her, so your opinion is probably more valid than ours."

"...Well… Homura-san is definitely a great fighter, but… she isn't really that good a teammate. Like you said, she hardly ever goes along with any plans of attack, and a lot of the time, she prioritizes protecting Madoka so much that I end up getting hurt."

"What?!" Luna exclaimed, looking furious.

"It's fine, it's fine! ...Sort of. Madoka heals me whenever I get hit, but it's still annoying that Homura-san cares more about protecting Madoka than me."

"Well, then, be annoyed." Everyone turned around in shock to see Homura standing in the room.

"Homura-san! When did you-"

"Let me make one thing perfectly clear to all of you: to me, Madoka's safety takes utmost priority. If I have to let one of you get hurt, or even die, to protect her…" Homura turned to walk towards the door, but before opening it, she tilted her head back and said, "then so be it." Homura then exited the room, leaving the girls to take in that grim message.

* * *

The next day, Homura had walked into the kitchen after her early morning jog. She had gotten into the practice of it a little after she and Madoka first came to this world. While Homura didn't physically need the exercise, given the extremely large increase in physical abilities her wish provided her, it served more as a mental thing.

"...Where's my 'Morning Rescue'?" Homura asked after opening the fridge. Another reason Homura started jogging was that she and Madoka had discovered a drink called "Morning Rescue". The two of them found it incredibly delicious, Homura even more than Madoka, and by restricting herself to only drinking a Morning Rescue after her jog, she stopped herself from drinking it constantly.

"Here you go." The voice was accompanied by a bottle of Morning Rescue being slid down the counter. After gulping down the beverage, Homura turned to see that the speaker was Madoka.

"...You're up early." Usually, Madoka wouldn't get up for another hour, giving Homura enough time to slip back into their bed and give the illusion that they were waking up at the same time.

"I wanted to talk to you, Homura-chan."

"About what?"

"...Akari-chan told me about what you said to them yesterday."

"...And?"

"What do you mean 'And'?! That was too mean, Homura-chan!"

"The truth isn't always nice to hear, Madoka." _Which is why I've spared you certain details about myself._

"Even so… I think you're wrong, Homura-chan!"

"? ...What?"

"I'm… I'm strong, too, you know. I might not be strong like you… but I can handle things on my own; you don't need to protect me."

"...I know you're strong Madoka… it's because you're strong that you _do _need protection."

"What do you mean-"

"I can't tell you. You just need to trust me."

"I _do _trust you! But you should be able to trust me, _and _our friends!"

"? What friends? Those girls? It's fine if _you _want to be friends with them, but I won't do that; I refuse to become friends with people I fight with anymore… it makes accepting their deaths too hard." Homura threw her empty bottle in the recycling and started walking back to the room.

"But… aren't _we _friends, though?" Homura stopped dead in her tracks. "You said that you don't make friends with people you fight with… but what about me? Aren't _I _your friend, Homura-chan?" Clenching her fist so hard that she started bleeding, Homura said one of the hardest things she ever had to say.

"No. You're important to me, Madoka… but we're not friends."

* * *

"Akemi-sama really said that to you?" Sayo Yasuda asked as she poured Madoka a cup of tea a few hours later.

"Yes…" Madoka said, weakly. "...What should I do, Yasuda-san?"

"? Why do you have to do anything, Kaname-sama? Akemi-sama clearly doesn't want to cooperate with anyone, so unless she starts to get creepy around you, it would probably be best to completely ignore her and limit your interactions to ones that are absolutely necessary."

"I can't do that!" Madoka yelled, slamming her hand on the table. "If I did that, then… then… then it'd be like I'm not her friend."

"? You consider Akemi-sama a friend?"

"I do. I know I've only known her for two months, and she hasn't really been that friendly to me, but… I still want to be her friend. And even though she said those things to me… I know that she wants to be my friend, too. I just… I just wish she'd open up her heart more…"

"Hmph. You really like Akemi-sama, don't you, Kaname-sama?"

"Yes. ...As-As a friend, of course!"

"Hehehe, of course, of course. Don't worry, Kaname-sama. By the end of the day, you won't have to worry one bit about whether or not Akemi-sama wants to be your friend."

* * *

POW! SNAP!

Homura's fist collided with her bedroom wall with enough force to cause her hand to break. Ever since her talk with Madoka, Homura had been breaking her hand like this, waiting a few minutes for it to heal, and repeating the process.

"...Why is this so frustrating…?" Homura asked as she waited for her hand to heal. "Madoka doesn't need to be my friend so long as I can protect her… but… she wants to be my friend…" Homura started crying. "All I've ever wanted… was for us to be close to one another… I know that it would be best if we weren't… but… but... I hate this… I HATE THIS!" Homura punched the wall with her still-broken hand.

"...?" At the same time that Homura punched the wall, a piece of paper was slipped underneath the door. Curious, she picked it up with her non-broken hand and saw that it was a note addressed to her. It read, "Akemi-sama, please meet me in the English room in ten minutes alone." The only person who ever addressed Homura like that was Sayo, so she obviously wrote the note. Homura had no idea why Sayo would want to talk to her, but since she hadn't seen Madoka since that morning and the other girls didn't want to talk to her, she figured that she might as well do it.

* * *

With her hand now healed, Homura entered the English class at precisely the time requested of her. Sure enough, Sayo was waiting for her.

"What do you want, Sayo Yasuda?" Homura asked.

"There is something I need you for. I want to ask you for something," Sayo said with a perpetual smile.

"What is it?"

"...You know, humans always say, 'It's better to regret something you did than to regret something you didn't do.' What's your opinion on that?"

"...It's absolutely true."

"Then, hypothetically speaking, if there were a situation where maintaining the status quo would only make things worse, but nobody knew what course of action would improve the circumstances, what would you do? Wouldn't you think that change, any change at all, would be best for now? With the way things currently are, nothing will improve."

_...She's right. I don't know what Sayo is talking about, but she's right. If I just keep acting like I've always been, nothing will change. Maybe… if I change _myself, _even a little… I can change everything for the better. _"Yes. I would definitely change it."

"That's so great to hear!" Sayo, still smiling, stepped forward towards Homura. "But you know, the higher-ups are all stick-in-the-muds who can't keep up with sudden change. But I can't afford such complacency out in the field. A lack of action would only allow the situation to grow worse. In that case, it should be okay for me to act on my own accord to assert changes, right?"

_...Seriously, though, what is she talking about?_

"I've grown tired of just being an observer. That's why… I'm going to kill you and see how Madoka Kaname-sama reacts."

One second went by. Then another. And another. And another. Four seconds went by before Homura opened her mouth again.

"I'm sorry, what?" Suddenly, there was a cut on Homura's left arm. Suddenly, Sayo was standing a little behind her, with a red energy blade around her arm that Homura recognized from the few times they had fought together. Suddenly, Homura realized that this woman, who she barely knew, was seriously trying to kill her.

"...!" Homura quickly transformed and stopped time. She had no idea what was happening and no idea how troublesome an opponent Sayo could be, so rather than fight her, she opted to go get help. This thought in mind, she quickly ran to the door, but when she tried to grab the handle, she was forced to draw her hand back from a powerful shock.

"I've put a barrier around this room; I'm afraid that you won't be able to leave, Akemi-sama."

"!" A million questions flying through her head, Homura ignored them all and turned to see Sayo Yasuda, still smiling, and not at all frozen in time. "How… How are you-"

"Look at your wrist." Homura, still confused, looked down to see a long, translucent chain with its ends wrapped around hers and Sayo's wrists. "Anyone who makes contact with you in the midst of your time stop, either physically or indirectly, gains your immunity to the frozen time, correct?"

"...You… What the hell do you think you're doing…?!"

"I already told you, Akemi-sama, I'm going to kill you. Your presence, no, your _existence_ creates too many variables for my superiors to properly conduct business."

"What…?! …! You… are you with that 'Daemonic Brain Trust' thing?!"

"Hehehe... no. I think you'll find my identity to be one that is much more… familiar." Sayo put two fingers to her face for about a second. Afterwards, there was what appeared to be contact lenses on the tips of her fingers, so what Homura was looking at now were Sayo's real eyes. They were red. An utterly soulless red. An utterly soulless, familiar red. She then took off her maid hat and out from the top of her head popped out a pair of white cat ears that appeared to have white rabbit ears sticking out of them. These things belonged to only one person Homura knew, but the mere thought of that being the truth deeply frightened her.

"In… Incubator…?!"

TO BE CONTINUED

* * *

**Fox: You should leave a review after reading; everybody's doing it, man!**

**Kyubey: You should also form a contract with me! :)**


	6. You're Damn Right, No!

**Fox: When there's no more room in hell, FOXONPIE SHALL WALK THE EARTH!**

**Pie: In all seriousness, though, we're back. Finals are over, so we can finally get back to writing.**

**Fox: Right, now let's get it started! **

* * *

**The following is a non-profit fanfic. Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Day Break Illusion are both owned by MBS, Shaft, Aniplex of America, Gen Urobuchi, Tokyo MX, AIC, and Michiko Itō. Please support the official release. **

* * *

"I already told you, Akemi-sama, I'm going to kill you," Sayo said with a smile so sweet it was disturbing. "Your presence, no, your _existence_ creates too many variables for my superiors to properly conduct business."

"What…?! …! You… are you with that 'Daemonic Brain Trust' thing?!" Homura asked.

"Hehehe... no. I think you'll find my identity to be one that is much more… familiar." Sayo put two fingers to her face for about a second. Afterwards, there was what appeared to be contact lenses on the tips of her fingers, so what Homura was looking at now were Sayo's real eyes. They were red. An utterly soulless red. An utterly soulless, familiar red. She then took off her maid hat and out from the top of her head popped out a pair of white cat ears that appeared to have white rabbit ears sticking out of them. These things belonged to only one person Homura knew, but the mere thought of that being the truth deeply frightened her.

"In… Incubator…?!"

"That's right! ...But, at the same time, that's wrong."

"What are you talking about?"

"Hmmm… I'd prefer to just kill you right away, but I suppose that there's no harm in keeping you well informed, especially since you can't really do any harm to me."

"..." As much as Homura wanted to object to this, Sayo was right. As long as that chain was there, Sayo wouldn't be affected by the frozen time, so Homura couldn't hit her with any of her attacks in that manner. Even if she didn't stop time, Sayo's last attack showed that she was extremely fast, so the chance of her getting hit wasn't very high. But since Sayo didn't seem to be in a hurry to fight, Homura decided to listen to whatever she had to say in the hopes that it would give her enough time to formulate a plan.

"It looks like you're willing to listen, so I'll start." Sayo's eyes went back to their original appearance and the white ears receded back into her head as she put her hat back on.

"As you are already aware, even if we don't know how, the Incubators are beings without emotion; they all view them as a sort of 'disease'. But, tell me, Akemi-sama… does them not _having _emotion mean that they are _incapable _of having emotion?"

"...Wait… so Incubators _can _have emotions?"

"That's right! While the majority of our race has emotional development purged at birth, every now and then, a newborn Incubator is kept out of the hive mind and is allowed to have emotion develop; for some reason, it also gives us a 'humanoid' body. ...Anyway, each Incubator allowed to have emotion is trained to only feel one emotion so as not to run into the same problems as you humans do."

"..." Homura got annoyed by that comment.

"But, as we've seen with you humans, beings with emotion can be quite powerful, so as soon as an emotion is specialized, Incubators like myself become the higher-ups' 'Executioners'."

"'Executioners'?"

"Yes. We are soldiers of the ruling hive mind of Incubators who are called for duty when the typical passiveness becomes counter-productive. Usually, we only have to fight witches and gather energy for pushing back entropy during certain periods of history when not many humans feel the need to wish for anything, so an assignment like this is a nice change of pace."

"What assignment?! What do you mean, Sayo Yasuda?!"

"I'm getting to it, I'm getting to it. Also, my real name isn't 'Sayo Yasuda'; my name is Seá Wase, the Incubator who embodies, or as the higher-ups would put it, 'is infected with' happiness."

"...Get on with it." Homura was only able to put up with this because Sayo wasn't moving and she didn't have a plan yet.

"Right. As you'll recall, about a month ago, Madoka Kaname-sama's Grief Seed was on the verge of becoming consumed by darkness, which would have turned her into the strongest Witch."

"...Yes… I remember…"

"Then, as you should also remember, when Kaname-sama grabbed onto you as you were activating your magic, the two of you were transported to this world. If it was anyone else, the higher-ups wouldn't have cared, but the energy Kaname-sama could create as a Witch is too valuable to give up!"

"Too_ valuable_"_?! Madoka's a person, not a collectible, dammit! _Homura cursed, internally.

"Seeing as your disappearance was the result of magic, the higher-ups locked onto the magic signature left behind in our reality to open a wormhole leading to this one. Once the link was confirmed, I was sent to this reality with the mission of retrieving Kaname-sama. However, in order for suspicion to not arise, the wormhole was adjusted to send me to this world six months prior, so I could successfully create the character you see before you! Clever, right?"

"...You… You're going to take Madoka back?"

"That's the plan! ...But if you ask me, the higher-ups are going about this the wrong way. I've found Kaname-sama, but they simply want me to observe for now until a good opportunity arises. That kind of passiveness is no good, though! We need to stop entropy as soon as possible, so just waiting and watching is detrimental to our objectives; it just simply won't do. However, I do agree that, before Kaname-sama is brought back, one tricky variable has to be taken care of: you, Akemi-sama."

"! Me?"

"Of course. Your actions for that month in the previous reality were entirely unpredictable, and if it weren't for you, Kaname-sama would have formed a contract much sooner. If we truly want Kaname-sama to be brought back to our reality, it could never succeed unless you are taken out of the picture. Plus, given how close you are to one another, knowledge of your death would certainly taint the entirety of her Soul Gem, immediately turning her into a Witch. Of course, you don't _have_ to die, Akemi-sama."

"?"

"I could allow you to live if you just let me take her back without a fight! How does that sound?" Homura pulled a Beretta 92FS from her hammerspace and unloaded the entire magazine towards Sayo's head, but they were deflected by a red barrier that formed around her body.

"...I'll take that as a 'no'."

"You're damn right, 'no'!"

TO BE CONTINUED

* * *

**Pie: Wait a minute. We go inactive for a month, and when we finally come back, you end on a **_**cliffhanger**_**?**

**Fox: That's right. Ain't I a stinker? *Pie hits Fox on the head***

**Pie: Why do you think you can mess with the readers like that?!**

**Fox: It's dramatic, it will keep them on their toes, and I got bored writing!**

**Pie: NO EXCUSE! *Hits Fox again* **

* * *

**Fox: You should leave a review after reading; everybody's doing it, man!**

**Kyubey: You should also form a contract with me! :)**


	7. I May Be Nice, but I'm Not Perfect!

**Fox: Happy Kwanza, everyone! Just kidding; I don't care about that holiday!**

**Pie: Apologies to anyone who does.**

**Fox: Anywho, I'm in a **_**MadoMagi **_**mood, mainly because I mostly made a move to see the movie last Friday, so here's the latest chapter!**

**Pie: Annoyingly apparent alliteration aside, enjoy. **

* * *

**The following is a non-profit fanfic. Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Day Break Illusion are both owned by MBS, Shaft, Aniplex of America, Gen Urobuchi, Tokyo MX, AIC, and Michiko Itō. Please support the official release. **

* * *

Homura and Sayo, or, rather, "Executioner" Seá Wase, were in an absolute stalemate. Homura was firing round after round, emptying cartridge after cartridge, setting off bomb after bomb, but nothing was working. Sayo's barrier seemed virtually indestructible, only shattering when faced with incredible power, but even when that happened, she was fast enough to dodge Homura's attacks. Fortunately, Homura's own skills allowed for her to put up equal resistance to Sayo's attacks, but that didn't accomplish anything in the long run.

"As fun as this is, Akemi-sama," Sayo began, dodging a shot from Homura's Remington 870, "we really should get a move on. The faster I get Kaname-sama back to her reality, the easier it will be for my superiors to forgive my deviation, you know!" The Executioner yanked on the energy chain connecting her and Homura and pulled the magical girl towards her, readying her blade to slash her across the chest, but to her surprise, it actually worked.

_That's odd. I expected some sort of resistance, so why did she just- _Sayo's thoughts were cut off, however, by Homura blasting her in the chest with a shotgun, the force knocking her into the opposite wall.

"Haa… Haa…" Homura panted. "Attacking from a distance was getting me nowhere… so a close-range one would have a better chance of success. Success would be… even more assured… if _you _were the one to get us close… and lower your guard, doing so…"

"Yes. It was a good plan, Akemi-sama."

"!" Homura watched in astonishment as Sayo got up, the same smile plastered on her face, despite all of the blood oozing out of her chest.

"However, it wasn't good enough, Akemi-sama. While your speed and proximity prevented me from activating my barrier, you didn't account for my natural defense, which is too high for me to go down in just one shot."

"Then how about another?!" Homura prepared for another shot, but her opponent pulled on the chain and threw her to the ground. Before Homura could act on this, Sayo jumped over to where she was and cut off Homura's right thumb, releasing a painful scream from her body.

"There. That should make resistance a little bit harder, since you can't fire a gun, properly, anymore. Now, then…" Sayo pointed her blade at Homura's midsection, "let's destroy your Soul Gem and end your life in an instant."

"!"

"Don't worry about any pain, Akemi-sama; you won't feel a single thing as your existence crumbles away into nothingness. Don't worry about Kaname-sama, either; once I bring her back to her reality, I'll immediately tell her what happened here, instantly turning her into a Witch. That way, she won't even have a chance to worry about you! Isn't that great?" The humanoid Incubator thrusted her hand Homura's Soul Gem, but rather that cut into it, it cut into the ground directly to the right of Homura.

"?" Upon inspection, Sayo and Homura saw that an object had hit Sayo's blade and set it off course, and that object was still lying on the ground: a pink energy arrow. "This is-" The Executioner was cut off by a dropkick to her chest, though she managed to hold her ground. "Well… _this _is certainly a surprise… Kaname-sama."

"Madoka!" Homura yelled as she saw the pink-haired girl standing between her and Sayo.

"I could have sworn that my barrier prevented our magical signatures from being sensed by outside parties. Ah! Akemi-sama shooting me in the chest must have damaged me more than I thought! Because of that, you were able to find us and enter when we weren't looking, right?"

"..." Madoka, for probably the first time in her life, had a face of rage as she silently summoned her bow and arrow. "Yasuda-san, I want you to leave. Now."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Kaname-sama; not without you, anyway. And now that my original plan has failed, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to get…" Without warning, Sayo pulled on the chain with enough force to drag Homura over to her, "a little bit rough." She then slammed her elbow into the top of Homura's skull with tremendous force.

"AAAAAAAGH!" Homura screamed, clutching her head for dear life.

"Homura-chan!" Madoka shouted.

"Even though your bodies basically become walking corpses upon making a contract, you magical girls are still unfortunately bound by human limitations," Sayo said, still smiling. "If you get exhausted, you feel as if you can't fight anymore. If you break a bone, you feel as if you can't move properly. And, if your head is heavily damaged, you will most assuredly die. With the last limitation in mind, you magical girls seem to be very weak to attacks to your head, and enough damage will end your life. Therefore, Kaname-sama, you have two choices: return to your reality and fulfill your destiny as a contracted magical girl, or stay here and watch Akemi-sama's brains get splattered across the room."

"!"

"I'd like you to pick the first one, but the second one _could _be interesting, as it could give us final confirmation as to whether or not Witches can be born in this world. Regardless, what will it be, Kaname-sama?"

"..." Madoka fired another arrow at Sayo, but she easily dodged it.

"Well it looks like you've made your answer clear, Kaname-sama. Try not to lose your lunch or something when you see Akemi-sama's head-"

BOOM

An explosion went off beneath Sayo's feet, blasting her into the air.

_What?! How did I- !_ Looking up, she saw that Homura was right above her, slamming her heel into her face and knocking her into the ground. _Akemi-sama?! How did she- ! _"The chain's been destroyed! How?!"

"I destroyed it, Yasuda-san," Madoka said. "The magic given to me by the Empress card is to restore or revert objects or organisms to any previous state in their history. When I kicked you before, I splashed some of your blood on the chain, and I wiped some more on the tip of my arrow so my ability would bring the arrow directly to it!"

"Ah… I guess your magic, in comparison to Akemi-sama's, would be strong enough to break it. Speaking of which, this large shadow being cast over me must be a sign of her doing something." Madoka and Sayo looked up and saw that Homura had done the only thing her card of the Emperor was allowing her to do: summon a steamroller.

_Homura-chan… maybe your card should've been "The World"..._ Madoka thought with a sweat drop. Sayo quickly summoned her barrier to protect herself, so Homura's steamroller failed to connect with her body.

"I don't think so!" Homura shouted, immediately stopping time. She then jumped up, pulled out an RPG-7, and fired at the steamroller with her left hand, the warhead stopping in midair. Afterwards, Homura jumped in front of Madoka and said, "Release", unfreezing time and allowing the warhead to blow up the steamroller.

"Is she…"

"...No. She's still alive." The stoic girl was right. Out of the explosion walked Sayo Yasuda, very visibly damaged, but very much alive. Homura immediately put up a defensive stance around Madoka, but the maid girl didn't move from her spot. Instead, she kept smiling as her body began to disintegrate into a rain of crystal grains.

"It looks like I'm at my limit," Sayo said. "I guess that was all the damage I could handle. What a shame. I guess that, in the end, I was always disposable.

"It looks like you'll get to live here a little longer. Be careful, though. I'm not the only Executioner the higher-ups have at their disposal, and I'm certainly not the strongest. Once they learn of this, they'll certainly send others who are much more qualified. Enjoy your time here until then. Bye-bye." Sayo's body completely vanished, her smile being the last thing the two girls saw of her.

"_Now _is she gone?" Madoka asked.

"...Looks like it," Homura said.

"Alright; that's good. I'll fix up the room, and then we can get out of here." Madoka put her hands together and summoned a pink light from her body that enveloped the entire room, restoring all the damage that had been done, which even caused Homura's thumb to become reattached. "Okay… now how should we explain this to the others, Homura-chan?"

"..."

"Homura-chan?"

"...We need to leave."

"Leave where?"

"Leave this place."

"Oh. ...What?!"

"This place isn't safe; it never was! We need to go!" Homura grabbed Madoka by the wrist. "Now!"

"There's no point in just leaving, Homura-chan!" Madoka said, pulling Homura's hand off of her. "The Incubators already know that we're here, so there's nowhere we could run to! Besides, Akari-chan and the others need us to help fight Daemonia!"

"Those people being here are why we have to leave, Madoka! We can't rely on them if we're in trouble; they'll just get in the way!"

"No! No they won't! Why can't you just trust them already, Homura-chan?! Why can't you trust anyone but yourself?!"

"!"

"! I… I didn't mean to-"

"No, that's fine, Madoka; given what you know about me, you couldn't think of me as anything but a selfish person."

"But I-"

"But that's just it, Madoka. The problem isn't that I _don't_ trust these people… it's that I _do _trust them."

"?"

"Akari… Luna… Seira… Ginka… even Mami, Sayaka, and Kyoko… I've trusted all of them… and all it's caused was pain! Sayo Yasuda was someone I trusted, too, and look how that ended! _This _is the problem with trusting people, Madoka! As soon as you let them into your hearts, they'll just betray you! And hurt you! And it won't even matter how much you cared for them!"

"...Homura-chan…"

"...But you're different, Madoka. You, for whatever reason, don't know how to be cruel… don't know how to be mean… don't know how to break a person. You've been nice to me, even if I don't deserve it. That's why I can't let them get you! That's why I need to protect you! Don't you understand?! It's the only way I can-" Homura was cut off from her train of thought when Madoka did something to Homura that no one had ever done to her, not even her own parents: she slapped her.

"Homura-chan… when did I ever say I was like that?! I may be a nice person, but I'm not perfect! I've made fun of people behind their backs, I've gotten into arguments with my teachers, I've even walked out on a check if I didn't like the meal; I'm no saint, Homura-chan, so stop treating me like one!"

"...Madoka…" was all Homura could say, her left hand resting where she was slapped.

"I can tell that you've been hurt before, which is why you feel this way. Is that right?"

"...Please… don't-"

"You don't have to tell me about it. You don't have to stop doing what you're doing, either. I won't object to it, but only if you stop looking out for me because 'I have to be protected' and start doing it because 'I'm your friend'. Because I'm 'someone who you can trust'. Because I'm… 'someone who will never hurt you'. Okay?"

"..." Tears started to run down Homura's face as she walked over to Madoka and embraced her. "Yes… I'll trust you… I'll trust them… I'll believe in you all… because… because you're my friend, Madoka. You're my very best friend."

"You're my best friend, too, Homura-chan," Madoka said, returning the embrace. "You're my best friend, too."

* * *

**Useless Addition #3**

The scene between Madoka and Homura was a truly heartwarming one. Nothing could possibly interfere with it.

"What is up?" Except Seira walking into the room at possibly the worst time ever. "I fo-fo-forgot my bag- BWAH!" That loud yell snapped Madoka and Homura out of whatever trance they were in and made them realize that they were in a position that could be considered "awkward" by some. They stopped hugging each other, but not fast enough, as Akari, Luna, and Ginka had each arrived and seen what was going on.

"Um… this is… we were…" Madoka stuttered.

"Sorry. Excuse us!" Seira bolted for the hall.

"Wait!" Homura shouted, stopping the blue-haired girl in her tracks.

"What? Do you want us to stay and participate in some freaky six-way?!"

"Well, if we ain't got a choice," Ginka said, reaching for the straps of her dress.

"Please don't strip, Ginka-san," Luna pleaded.

"I… I… I'm sorry!" Homura shouted, bringing the attention back to her. "I'm sorry that I've been treating you all so poorly! I didn't think I could trust you all, but I was being a selfish fool! If you could find it in your hearts to forgive me, I'd like for us to start over… as friends!"

"Homura-san…" Akari said. After a brief pause, a smile emerged from her lips as she said, "Of course we can!" Akari and her friends then got Homura into a group hug, each of them telling Homura how they were glad that she was doing this. Homura couldn't help but smile; it had been a long time since she had felt such kindness.

"So… we ain't gon' do dat six-way?" Ginka asked.

"NO!" Everyone shouted.

* * *

**Fox: You should leave a review after reading; everybody's doing it, man!**

**Kyubey: You should also form a contract with me! :)**


	8. Konnichiwa, mina-san!

**The following is a non-profit fanfic. Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Day Break Illusion are both owned by MBS, Shaft, Aniplex of America, Gen Urobuchi, Tokyo MX, AIC, and Michiko Itō. Please support the official release. **

* * *

"And that is why dropping Mentos in Diet Coke causes a small explosion," Meltina Melvis said to her chemistry class. "Any questions?" One student raised her hand. "Yes, Akari?"

"Meltina-san… I think we should end class early today," Akari said to her teacher and comrade.

"Why is that?"

"Because… Madoka and Homura-san are unconscious… or dead…" Everyone turned to see that the two girls were passed out in puddles of their own sweat.

"...Fair enough."

* * *

"FWUAH!" Madoka exclaimed as she finished swallowing her third bottle of Morning Rescue. "Thank you, Akari-chan. I thought I was gonna die~."

"After fighting all those Witches, that would have been a lame way to die," Homura said, downing her seventh bottle of Morning Rescue.

"You really love that stuff, don't you, Homura?" Seira asked.

"It's a better love story than _Twilight_, at least." There was a brief pause. "You were supposed to laugh at that."

"...Haha…" was everyone's awkward laugh.

It was now July, marking two months since Madoka and Homura arrived in this reality. After the incident with Sayo Yasuda, or, as she really was, "Executioner" Seá Wase, Homura, for the first time in what seemed like forever, decided to lighten up and let people besides Madoka into her life. She still prioritized the pink-haired girl over everything, but Homura now started being friendly with the others. This also, unexpectedly, lead to changes in her behavior, like making her sarcastic and want to be funny. It often came out exactly as one would expect.

"But still, why did we have to come here before we could wear our summer uniforms, Homura-chan?" Madoka complained. "It's too hot in these things!"

"I agree," Homura said. "Maybe we actually _should _buy some lighter clothes. It'll feel weird not wearing the same thing every day, but we'll just have to grit our teeth and bear it."

"For now, though, let's make things a little more... _comfortable_, for the two of you," Luna said with a devilish glint in her eyes. Before Madoka and Homura could say anything, she turned her hands into claws and slashed at their uniforms. The slashing cut off their sleeves and exposed their belly buttons.

"Wha-?" Madoka somehow managed to say. "Luna-chan, I get the sleeves, but why did you have to expose our stomachs?"

"I thought it would be a good look."

"Ya dun thought right!" Ginka said with a smirk and thumbs up.

"Well… I _guess _it's fine," Madoka said, looking embarrassed. "What do you think, Homura-chan?" The raven-haired girl's response was falling onto the floor. "Homura-chan?!"

"I'm fine…" she said, getting up. "I just… tripped…"

"I'll say! You fell so hard, you got a nosebleed!"

"Yes… the nosebleed is because of the fall." _Smooth, Homura. Very smooth._

"**ALL STUDENTS AND STAFF, PLEASE REPORT TO THE MAIN BUILDING," **Etia's voice rang through the loudspeakers. "**REPEAT: ALL STUDENTS AND STAFF, PLEASE REPORT TO THE MAIN BUILDING." **

"I wonder what's going on," Akari said.

"Who knows?" Homura asked, stuffing a tissue into her nostril.

* * *

After about a minute, everyone was gathered in the main building, Etia and Ariel facing the students and teachers.

"As you all know, two months ago, around the same time Madoka-san and Homura-san joined us, we learned that there is apparently an organization called the 'Daemonic Brain Trust'," Etia said. "Nothing about them became revealed since, but a month ago, they apparently made a move… by killing Sayo Yasuda."

_That's right, _Homura thought. _That's the lie everyone's been fed._

* * *

After the big group hug, Homura and Madoka were going to tell everyone about what had just transpired, but before they could get a word in edgewise, Ariel shouted through the loudspeakers for everyone to report to the docking bay. When they got their, their attention was brought to a big monitor showing Sayo in the Astralux being killed by a shrouded free-willed Daemonia who said that it was "in the name of the Brain Trust".

Naturally, the trans-dimensional magical girls were confused. They just saw Sayo die, at their hands, nonetheless, but now they were watching her meet her end in an entirely different way. Telepathically, they discussed telling them what _they _did, but the girls ultimately decided against it, as that would involve giving them all of the information they learned from Sayo which both only pertained to them and they were still trying to figure out.

* * *

**Back in the present**

"Because of this," Ariel continued, "this 'Daemonic Brain Trust' has been promoted to an official threat, and to assist us, we have been sent two investigators from Leguzario."

"'Leguzario'?" Madoka and Homura whispered.

"Their the organization that sponsors Sephiro Fiore," Akari whispered. "No one knows anything about them, at least, everyone besides Etia-san and Ariel-san, but they give us money and give us virtual free reign, so we don't question them."

"So for the time being, please welcome Crystina Applewood and White Burstix!" Etia said with a smile. After she did, two people walked into the building, not looking like anything anyone was expecting.

The first person was a girl who looked the same age as them, obviously Crystina Applewood. She had long, red hair, sea blue eyes, and a chest that could rival Mami Tomoe's in size. The second person, White Burstix, a clear male, had short, white hair, blood red eyes framed by glasses, and was taller than Crystina by at least a foot, indicating that he was a few years older than her. Both of them were wearing dark red sets with white dress shirts underneath, and they each took a place next to Etia and Ariel.

"Konnichiwa, mina-san(Good afternoon, everyone)!" Crystina said with a smile. "I'm Kurisutina Appuruuddo desu(I'm Crystina Applewood)! Yoroshikune~(Nice to meet you~)!"

"N...Nice to meet you…" The girls somehow managed to say through their shock of discovering that she was a weaboo.

"Um, White-san…" Madoka started. "Not to be rude, but for a girl, you look rather manly."

"...Maybe that's because I'M A GUY!" White Burstrix yelled.

"Eh~?! Magical _girls_ can be magical _boys_?!"

"Of course, you little twit!" Akari, Luna, Seira, and Ginka immediately grabbed Homura to stop her from doing anything. "You're that 'Madoka' girl, right? Well, I don't get why it's like that in _your _world, but here, magic isn't sexist! Now enough with your questions and inquiries; your curiosity is getting on the esteemed nerves of White Burstrix!"

"Be nice, White-kun!" Crystina pleaded. "Stop acting like a silly baka! Baka baka baka!"

_Hrmm…_ Homura grumbled in her mind. _Great. We've gotta work with a weaboo and an asshole. Could this day _get _any worse? _At that moment, the alarm signaling the appearance of a Daemonia in the Astralux. _Of course._

"Etia-san, Ariel-san, please allow Crystina and I to fight the Daemonia that has appeared!" White shouted.

"Very well; we'll allow it," Etia said.

"Arigatou gozaimashita~(Thank you very much~)!" Crystina said in wapanese. "Oh! White-kun and I want to evaluate the people here, so can we get two of your girls to come with us? Onegai~(Please~)?" The hearts of Madoka and co. skipped a beat. None of them wanted to spend a whole battle with those two, but it looked like two of them would have to. As if their minds were linked, Madoka, Homura, Akari, Luna, Seira, Ginka, Priscilla, and Meltina all turned to one another to do what had silently been agreed on to decide things.

At the top of their lungs, the eight of them shouted, "JAN KEN PON!"

* * *

"I hate that game…" Madoka and Akari cried as they entered the docking bay with Crystina and White.

"Coordinates locked. Astralux is normal," Itsuki said as the four individuals were locked in cages and lifted up.

"Convertillento posidio," Mutsumi Tendo said. When she did, a large hole opened up in the platform that contained an orange, swirling vortex.

"Tenebrae mode!" Nanase Tendo said. "Wheel of Fortune, start!" The three sisters simultaneously pressed a key on each of their computers, causing the cages to open up and drop them into the vortex.

"Good luck, onee-tans and onii-tan!" The three girls said.

* * *

This time, the field for the Astralux was a large desert composed of dark grey sand. Madoka and Akari couldn't see the Daemonia anywhere, so they kept their guards up in case of a sneak attack. What they could see, though, were Crystina and White's new appearances. Crystina's eyes became slanted with a heart around each one, her top became a strapless, white shirt with a heart-shaped space exposing cleavage, and her pants turned into a dangerously short blue skirt.

White's appearance, in comparison, was much less pleasant to look at. His eyes were already slanted, so they stayed the same, but he did lose his glasses. His hair became extremely spiky, and his outfit was transformed into a white, menacing-looking lightweight armor.

"? I thought magical… people's outfits didn't change in this world," Madoka said.

"Hmph!" White snorted. "Maybe for novices, they don't! When you're an elite of the elite, though, like the esteemed White Burstrix, something as simple as this becomes possible!"

"Dekimasu(We can do it)!" Crystina cheered, jumping up and down and causing her breasts to bounce.

_I wanna hit them so much right now… _Akari thought to herself. Her thoughts of assaulting her teammates stopped, though, when she and the others sensed the Daemonia approaching from the North.

"Get ready, everyone!" Akari shouted. They all waited for it to get to them, but it was moving surprisingly slow. When the Daemonia's presence was only 50 feet away from them, while they still couldn't make out its appearance, they could make out that its size was one that matched their own.

"Daemonia aren't supposed to be that small," Madoka noted. "Is it a counterpart to one of us?"

"No," White said, affirmatively. "Their instincts force them to fight when they actually show themselves, so they wouldn't move like this. It must be… a free-willed Daemonia!"

"You are correct." This response didn't come from any of the fighters. It came from the free-willed Daemonia, who was now standing directly in front of them. The Daemonia, appearing male, had light blue hair that slightly covered his bright blue eyes and wore a black half-shirt and black pair of pants that were wrapped in bandages, all underneath a black coak with a blue rhombus on each side of the hood.

Akari knew this Daemonia. She didn't want to believe it was him, but there was no doubting it, whatsoever.

"Ce… Cerebrum?!" Akari shouted. The Daemonia put on a malicious grin.

"Hey. It's been two years, Akari Taiyo."

TO BE CONTINUED

* * *

**Fox: To those of you who have watched **_**Day Break Illusion**_**, this surely comes as a shock. To those of you who haven't, which is the majority of you, trust me when I say that this is shocking.**

**Pie: And now… this! **

* * *

**Useless Addition #4**

"So, Homura, exactly _why _were you embracing Madoka so intimately?" Seira asked. It was now the night of the day of Sayo's attack, and Seira was bringing up the "incident" from earlier while she and Homura were working out in the weight room.

"What you believe you saw was mere fiction; an utter fantasy," Homura said. "Madoka has been extremely upset with our current situation. She's done the best she could to deal with it this past month, but it's really been getting to her. I, of course, sympathize with Madoka, and was more than willing to listen to her vent.

"Today, we met up in the English room so she could tell me about her frustrations while I, the good friend that I am, listened to her. When she was done, we got up to leave, but alas! She slipped on a puddle of Morning Rescue, the greatest beverage ever made! Thinking on my feet, I heroically caught her before she fell, and when the action was complete… _you _walked. That, Seira Hoshikawa, is the truth of what you saw."

"Liar."

"Tch!"

"Fine, don't tell me. I'm just glad you two weren't making out; I did _not _need to see _that _again."

"Wh-Wh-Why would we- wait, 'again'?"

* * *

**Fox: You should leave a review after reading; everybody's doing it, man!**

**Kyubey: You should also form a contract with me! :)**


End file.
